Taxi Driver Online

Volcanic cloud’s silver lining: a £650 fare for cab driver

Friday, 16 April 2010

The Icelandic volcano eruption may have caused misery for millions of airline passengers but it put a smile on one Belfast taxi driver’s face.

Joe Duffy, a driver with FonaCab was asked to drive a businessman and four colleagues over 400 miles from Belfast to London.

The lengthy fare cost the businessman £650 plus ferry fees and was expected to take around eight hours to drive from Stranraer to the Capital.

The Belfast man is expected back home by lunchtime today.

Simon Kitchen, business development manager with FonaCab said: “At first we thought he was having a laugh. It’s the longest Joe has ever had and the longest fare for FonaCab in 48 years.”

Source; belfasttelegraph.co.uk

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Brummie Cabbie.

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Now that's what I call a reasonable fare!!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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A mate of mine had a pick up yesterday lunch time from Derby to Birmingham airport, the customer still thought the plane would be ok. He told the customer that everything was cancelled so the customer said to go to St Pancras so he could go by Eurostar. Next question, "have you got a ticket for Eurostar?" Answer no but I will sort that out on the way. 1 hour later, " can we go to Dover driver?"
I don't know yet if the chap managed to get a ferry.

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Grandad,

Nice, very nice.

I'm having to write today off & probably part of tomorrow. My student daughter went to Dublin with five others on Tuesday for a 21st birthday bash. She was due back at 08.00hrs this morning at Birmingham International. Instead they have managed to get on a ferry from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead which docks in Holyhead at 00.30hrs on Saturday.

So guess whose picking them up as a freebie??

But before all that my now married son & I are off to the car auctions at Measham in about an hour to buy the student a replacement car. She crawled home from Portsmouth with a knackered gearbox on Monday & there's no chance she will get back there in that car with the noise it's now making. And it's a W reg, so not worth repairing.

So, as she's 21 in a few weeks we've all decided to chip in to get her a replacement car as an early surprise birthday present. It won't be a limousine, but it will get her from A to B until she graduates next year & it will have to do.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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Disagree with other members' views;
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Unlucky.

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Grandad,

I went to a car auction to buy a vehicle for my daughter once. Only the once tho cos I couldn't resist putting my hand up when I saw a cute little green thing. I thought it was a snip, everybody else was glad when it was shunted from behind and written off a few weeks later. The next time I went to an auction, just to watch, I was told to keep my hands firmly in my pockets I didn't see the fun in that so I haven't been again. Good luck anyway and I'm sure you'll come back with something much better than I did

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Yes..them Martians are cute little fellahs..

I had a £50 fare at silly o'clock this morning from Pompey ferry port. I wish I'd been plated over there, those guys are making a killing today.

Meanwhile, waiting for my passengers, got talking to a guy from Weston-s-m and one from Plymouth. Both there due to the volcano. Got to be £200 on one and £300+ on the other.


Now, bring on the rail strike...............

My best fare so far in from Gala to Plymouth 14 years ago left Gala at 3AM from the rank arrived at 10.55 AM £480 plus coffee and breaky

Some people are getting desperate now. My mate picked up 3 chaps today who were going to Cologne. They were going to go to London, stay the night in a hotel and get the Eurostar in the morning to Calais and then hire a car to drive to Cologne. Total price for the lot was a touch over £1500. My mate offered to drive them all the way for £950 and they agreed. So he nipped home for his passport and he is now at Dover about to get on the ferry. These chaps come over at least twice a month and they said they will consider this option more often.
Just one thing though, does private hire insurance cover trips overseas?

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Grandad,

Not sure, also vehicles aren't licensed out of the country, as the 1847 and 1976 acts don't count.

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IDFIMH

I agree.

One of my mates is stuck in Dubai, hopefully being put up on the airline account, and another is stuck with his family in Lanzarote.

With Ryanair stopping flying until Monday lunchtime at the earliest, it's getting to a stage which isn't a lot of fun for those concerned.

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IDFIMH

We are doomed

Volcanic role in Scottish famine


Volcanic eruptions throw up dust, ash and sulphur dioxide
Outpourings of volcanic ash from Iceland in the 17th Century contributed to a period of famine and hardship in Scotland, according to experts.
A major eruption in 1695 saw large parts of the country affected by a "sulphurous fog".
Prof Alastair Dawson, writing in the latest Scottish Environment Protection Agency magazine, said it came at a time of climatic change.
Dust in the atmosphere dimmed sunlight causing crops to fail.
Prof Dawson, of the University of Aberdeen, writes in Sepa View: "We cannot be sure what the precise effect of this eruption was on Scotland's climate but we do know that the years between AD 1693-1700 were characterised by widespread famine.
"They later became known as the 'King William's Dear Years'.
"A contemporary account of this time describes how it was common for people to bring in the crops in the frosts and snow between November and February."
But he said many crops simply rotted in the fields.
Dimming sunlight
The effect of eruptions on the Highlands and Islands during the 17th Century has been investigated by other academics.
A research paper called: Endemic stress, farming communities and the influence of Icelandic volcanic eruptions in the Scottish Highlands is held in the Lyell Collection of the Geological Society.
In an interview on solar activity with the BBC News Scotland website last April, Gareth Jones - a climate research scientist at the Met Office - said volcanic ash was an important factor in influencing temperatures.
He said volcanic eruptions throw up dust, ash and sulphur dioxide.
In the upper atmosphere, the sulphur dioxide becomes droplets of sulphuric acid and this creates a veil, dimming sunlight.
Mr Jones said volcanoes were more active in the 17th and 18th Centuries than they are today.

We had one go to Dover yesterday morning. I think they quoted him £250.

Although I feel very sorry for the people who have missed their flights... I must admit.. it is nice to look into the sky and see no aeroplanes.... it makes one remember the way things used to be.... everything has a silver lining..

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!